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Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tell Me Three Things, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Blended Families
Intimacy and Growing Up
Wealth, Fitting In, and Bullying
Home
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
When Jessie asks about a job, the Starbucks barista tells her they only hire experienced baristas with an insincere smile. Several other businesses turn Jessie down, so she decides to try a bookstore called Book Out Below! She immediately feels at home inside and scans the books, though she needs money way more than she needs reading material. The saleswoman (Liam’s mom) approaches Jessie. Jessie is surprised—the woman has wrinkles and looks normal. Thinking of Scarlett’s advice to be “undeniable,” Jessie asks if the woman is hiring. The woman studies Jessie and asks if she’s a book person, so Jessie opens her bag and pulls out her collection of current reading material. The woman is impressed.
The way that Jessie feels in Book Out Below! complicates the novel’s exploration of what it means to fit in. Though Jessie is in the bookstore to begin with because she needs a job—something that sets her apart from her peers in a negative way—the bookstore itself makes Jessie feel right at home. The owner also makes Jessie feel better, as this is seemingly the first “normal” (that is, no plastic surgery) person Jessie has seen since moving to Los Angeles.
Themes
Liam’s mom starts to reject Jessie, but Jessie interjects that she can work as much or as little as needed. She thrusts a resume at the woman. When the woman asks, Jessie says she goes to Wood Valley but since she just moved, she doesn’t know the woman’s son, Liam, yet. Reassuringly, the woman says she likes Jessie and will ask Liam if he wants to give up hours to practice with his band. Jessie hopes he wants to practice all the time and thinks she’d rather live in this shop than at Rachel’s house. She wants this woman to comfort her and tell her she’ll do fine on the PSAT, even if she doesn’t have a tutor like Theo. Jessie texts Scarlett on her way out the door.
Jessie’s immediate sense of attachment to Liam’s mom shows just how badly Rachel is failing at parenting Jessie. It’s odd that she hasn’t invited Jessie to join in Theo’s tutoring sessions, and being left out surely makes Jessie feel even less welcome at home. Essentially, because Liam’s mom looks far more familiar—and far nicer—than Rachel does, Jessie wants this job and a relationship with this woman even more than she might otherwise.
Themes
Suddenly, Jessie finds herself on the floor of the bookstore, holding her forehead and seeing stars. A guy Jessie’s age kneels down and asks if she’s okay. He’s like a better-looking version of Adam Kravitz and explains that his guitar hit Jessie in the head. Jessie recognizes him—he’s Liam, the guy who traveled India and interned at Google. Jessie again channels her inner undeniable Scarlett and makes her case for getting a job.
Getting knocked to the floor while texting Scarlett is a veiled indication that Jessie is possibly holding on too tightly to Scarlett and their text-based friendship. If Jessie wants to get through the day unscathed and get a job, she needs to connect with the world in front of her, not just with the world inside her phone.
Themes
At Rachel’s house later, Jessie gleefully announces to Theo that she got a job someplace that won’t embarrass him, since he’ll never go there. Theo puts down his laptop and tries to guess where, but Rachel excitedly interrupts and asks what the good news is. Jessie feels guilty, but she doesn’t want to tell Rachel anything that might make her think everything is okay. When Rachel leaves, Jessie says she got a job at Book Out Below! Theo imperiously says he’s smart and has been there. Jessie believes him: he recently beat her on a physics quiz even though he didn’t study. Everyone at Wood Valley is smart or motivated. Jessie thinks she should be popular because of this, but she’s not.
Though Rachel is making a number of missteps when it comes to navigating her relationship with Jessie, she’s not the only guilty one—in denying Rachel the chance to celebrate with her, Jessie only continues to keep the two of them at a distance. That Jessie feels comfortable telling Theo, on the other hand, suggests that their relationship is becoming more stable and he is now someone whom Jessie can trust.
Themes
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